{"id":3295,"date":"2021-03-06T21:00:41","date_gmt":"2021-03-06T21:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/?p=3295"},"modified":"2020-02-11T18:44:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T18:44:29","slug":"story-annas-submarine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/06\/3295\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna\u2019s Submarine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The case study \u201cAnna\u2019s Submarine\u201d makes it clear that a therapist can only lead someone out of a dream world if he or she also enters the dream world first. The path out of the dream world must also be attractive, and it must still be possible to return to the old patterns if necessary. The submarine intervention also involves the paradox that Anna is invited to leave her dream world while she is in her dream world, meaning that she can pursue both sides of the ambivalence with different parts of her personality; she can act in accordance with her previous pattern while at the same time trying a new pattern, although the old pattern will then not be quite the same as it was…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna dreams. She dreams while she\u2019s at school with the\nother Year Four pupils, and she continues dreaming when she comes home after\nschool. She lives in her dreams to the extent that no one really knows whether\nshe is talented or stupid, simple-minded or subtle, shy or inhibited,\nintroverted or mentally disturbed. Anna has no friends, and seems content with\nher own company. Anna appears to be happy when she is dreaming, or perhaps she\nonly dreams because of how unhappy she would be if she were not dreaming? Anna\ntwists and tugs on her hair until it falls out. She chews her fingernails until\nthey bleed. Is Anna ill, or just quirky? Which school should she attend, and\nwhat is the best way to help her? Her parents want answers to these questions,\nand so they bring her to therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe you live in a submarine,\u201d I say to Anna.\nShe looks at me inquiringly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou dive down below the waves to a rainbow-like world\nof fish and coral and many other brightly coloured things which are unknown to\nthe people living on the surface. Do you agree?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d says Anna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt must be lovely down there. You can investigate the\nsea floor in peace, and no one can disturb you.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d says Anna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can be a deep-sea researcher \u2013 someone who\ninvestigates the world of the deep on behalf of the people up on the surface.\nThey find out everything there is to know about the animals and plants which\nlive in the sea.\u201d \u201cThat would be fun,\u201d says Anna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll submarines need a periscope, of course. That\u2019s a\nlong tube with mirrors so that you can always see what\u2019s happening up top even\nwhen you\u2019re down below.\u201d \u201cAnd so I can watch the other people,\u201d says Anna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExactly. And you\u2019ll also need a sonar system so that\nyou don\u2019t crash into other submarines or ships while you\u2019re under water. The\nsonar system emits sound waves so that you know when others are coming too\nclose, and when you should dive down deeper into the sea in order to avoid\nother submarines and ships.\u201d \u201cDo I have to go deeper?\u201d asks Anna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m sure you know that it\u2019s not a good idea for\ntwo submarines or a submarine and a ship to crash into each other. Both vessels\ncan be damaged, even if the collision was a mistake. It\u2019s better to anticipate\nthe accident and change course or dive down into the water in good time. In\norder to respond promptly, you need a microphone which picks up the signals of\nthe other submarines and ships and a radio system so that you can talk to their\ncrew even when you\u2019re under the water.\u201d \u201cYes, that\u2019s a good idea. Then I won\u2019t\ncollide with them again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExactly. And of course every submarine has to come to\nthe surface from time to time.\u201d \u201cWhy?\u201d \u201cFor oxygen, and for food and drink. You\nneed to come to the surface every now and again to take them on board.\u201d \u201cYes,\nyou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResearch submarines also have to come to the surface\nregularly so that the researchers can talk to the people up top about what they\nshould be investigating down below.\u201d \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course. The submarine\u2019s job is to find out what\nhappens under the sea and to tell the people on land about it.\u201d \u201cCan submarines\nshoot at other people?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, submarines have torpedoes, but they must only be\nused against enemy ships in an emergency. It\u2019s better to talk using the radio,\nor to come to the surface and use the megaphone; \u2018Hello, I heard your signals\nand came to the surface. What\u2019s up?\u2019 Submarine captains who are really good at\ntheir job spend a lot of time below the water and a lot of time above the\nwater. They know the signals of the other ships so well that they always know\nwhen it\u2019s better to come to the surface and when it\u2019s better to dive down into\nthe water. They also know when it\u2019s a good idea to be half up and half down,\nlike a crocodile which keeps only its eyes, ears and nostrils above the water\nso that it can see everything happening above the water, but is still well\ncamouflaged and can dive down quickly if necessary. Sometimes submarines also\ntravel along just below the surface of the sea so that only their conning tower\nis poking out. This allows them to find out everything which is happening above\nthe water, and to hear all the signals they need to hear and see everything\nthey need to see, but to reach the bottom of the sea quickly if they ever need\nto dive down.\u201d \u201cCool,\u201d says Anna. \u201cI like that idea.\u201d\n\nLike everyone else,\nsubmarine captains sometimes take a holiday and come on shore. They meet their\nfriends, tell them about their voyages and hear about their friends\u2019\nexperiences. I once knew a submarine captain who liked to fly a hydroplane in\nhis spare time, looking from above at what he normally saw from below \u2013 the\nland and the water, the ships, the submarines and everything else. And when he\nhad seen everything, he landed again, or splashed down as hydroplane pilots\nsay. He knew the world from every perspective, and he was very happy.\u201d \u201cCool,\u201d\nsaid Anna. \u201cI\u2019d like to do that\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The case study \u201cAnna\u2019s Submarine\u201d makes it clear that a therapist can only lead someone out of a dream world if he or she also enters the dream world first. The path out of the dream world must also be … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3295"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3642,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3295\/revisions\/3642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}